Rev. Don Campbell
1 Kings 12-14
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, June 23, 2019
“BAD ADVISORS WILL GIVE BAD ADVICE”
One of the most dangerous things a king, president, prime minister, or lesser execute can do is surround themselves with “yes” people who will tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. Solomon’s son Rehoboam rejected the wise counsel of the old men who had advised Solomon and followed the chest-thumping advice of the young men who had grown up with him. As a result, the kingdom was divided with ten tribes which would be become known as Israel following Jeroboam and only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin following Rehoboam.
Jeroboam feared that when the people went up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, they would eventually turn back to the house of David. The record says, “So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold,” one of which he set in Bethel and one in Dan along the northern border and Bethel on the southern border not far north of Jerusalem. We are not told with whom he took counsel, but whoever they were, they did not have the best interest of Jeroboam or the newly seceded nation at heart. A man of God came to Jeroboam with a message: “And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, ‘O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: “Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you” (1 Kings 13:2-3). And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: ‘Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out’” The prophecy was fulfilled 300 years later. Warren W. Wiersbe commented: “The prophet spoke to the altar, not to the king, as though God no longer wanted to address Jeroboam, a man so filled with himself and his plans that he had no time to listen to God” (Bible Exposition Commentary).
Bad advice, if accepted, results in bad decisions. Rehoboam assembled 180,000 soldiers to fight against Israel, and it was only through the word of God which came to Shemaiah the man of God that a bloody civil war was avoided. The message from the Lord was “You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel” (1 Kings 12:24).
When politicians who hold the fate of a nation in their hands become so full of themselves that they will listen to no one except their own cheerleaders, they are a danger to themselves, but more importantly to the nation. Spin doctors can spin the facts, but cannot change the truth.
CONNECTIONS
1. Jeroboam took actions against God and set in motion events that would not be fully punished until 300 years later, reminding us that consequences of the sins of one generation do not end with the death of that generation. Are we suffering the consequences of some bad decisions of previous generations of leaders? What consequences will our children’s children suffer from bad decisions being made now? I’m thankful that I am not a prophet who can answer that question in detail.
2. In the song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” all the young men have gone off to war and the question is asked, “When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?” Do you fear along with me that the answer is “NEVER!”?
